The Hidden Wonders of Planet Earth
by Queen of the Castle
Summary: Nine/Rose. The Doctor takes Rose somewhere different to show her how he sees the world.


Rose glared steadily at him. He couldn't quite see it, but he could feel it nonetheless. It was probably lucky that the Doctor could barely make out her features even though she was sitting only about three feet further down the boat than him, or he feared he might have found out whether human looks really could kill.

"So," the Doctor said cheerfully. "Rainforest, eh? That's different."

"Doctor," Rose said. Even over the pounding sound of water hitting tin, the Doctor could hear the frustration in her voice. "When I asked for you to take me somewhere on Earth during my time that was completely different to Britain, I didn't really mean that you should pick a place where it rains even _more_ often than back home."

The Doctor grinned. "Oh, but Rose, it's just a downpour. It'll stop soon, and then you'll be able to look around you and see just why we're here. You humans. You think that you're so special, like somehow you're the sole occupants of this little planet just because you're currently the most intelligent species on it. But in a place like the Congo, you see the truth. There's so much conflict between the humans in this area of the world, but just look at the backdrop of it."

"I'd love to look at it, but I can't _see_ anything at the moment," Rose pointed out wryly.

"But that's the point! It's still _there_, even when it's hard to see. Rainforests teeming with colour and life, leading into seemingly desolate grasslands that are filled with things that are constantly struggling for existence, yes, but are still somehow managing to thrive. This is the area, right where we are now along this river, where whole species will one day evolve into sentient beings. Trees, and birds, and even insects, all talking and reasoning and flying through the stars, just like all you once-apes are already starting to do. Evolution at its finest."

"Yeah," Rose said, still sounding slightly put out. "I've met talking trees, remember? In the year five billion? I know this. I've seen it. And I can't see it now anyway, so what's the point?"

"The _point_," the Doctor explained, "is that even when the beauty of things is hidden for some reason – whether it's the rain or the need to shelter from the drought, or whatever – it's still there. You just have to know how to look at it."

"Like the Earth exploding?" Rose asked, sounding a little more interested. "Like even when it's hard to see past the fact that it's about to explode, and maybe even take you with it, there's still something stunning about the way the light of the expanding sun hits it just so."

The Doctor beamed. "Rose Tyler, you're a bit of a poet at heart. Who knew?"

"Not me," Rose said. "I hate poetry. Always reminds me too much of school. But I just mean ... Earth. There's so much badness out there, and you see it all the time, but I think you still love this little planet even though it's not yours."

"Earth is about more than those things," the Doctor agreed. "It's all in how you choose to perceive it."

Rose was quiet for a while. Then she said, "All right, so if this was supposed to be a lesson, I think I've learned it. Can we go back to the TARDIS and set it to a different time to come back? One when it's _not_ raining so hard I can barely even see _you_, let alone the rainforests and grasslands and whatever. Only, I'm sick of looking like a drowned rat."

The Doctor reached across for her hand, and when Rose warily offered it, he used it to pull her along the flat bench seat towards him, depositing her directly beside him instead of up near the front of the boat. Several feet of distance between them turned into mere inches, then, and the heavy sheets of rain sliding in between them were no longer enough to obstruct his view of her.

Her make-up had mostly been washed off, the rain was so hard, but there was still some smudging left on her face where her dark mascara had initially begun running across her features. Her hair was plastered to her head, hanging in wet chunks down beside her cheeks. Her face was paler than usual, obviously cold from the rain.

The Doctor smiled at her.

"What did I tell you before, then? Everything in a rainforest is beautiful, always, even when you can't see it. _Everything_."

He pushed the hair back from her face on one side, tucking it back behind her ear. He let his fingertips brush her cheekbone as he withdrew his hand, before letting it fall harmlessly back into his lap.

Rose met his eyes gratefully and the Doctor could see that this time she'd got the message without him having to spell it out for her.

Which was just as well, because he'd probably have had to throw himself right into the river out of embarrassment if she'd made him get any more explicit than that.

~FIN~


End file.
